


Virago - Unexpected Support

by cutsycat



Series: Dictionary.Com Word of the Day Drabbles [1419]
Category: NCIS
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-08
Updated: 2019-11-08
Packaged: 2021-01-25 07:55:06
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,183
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21352816
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cutsycat/pseuds/cutsycat
Summary: After Gibbs' returns from Mexico, things don't improve and Tony is starting to consider turning in his resignation when he finds out he has support in unexpected places.
Series: Dictionary.Com Word of the Day Drabbles [1419]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/444514
Comments: 8
Kudos: 85
Collections: Prompts for Cutsycat - NCIS (2018)





	Virago - Unexpected Support

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Brennah_K](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Brennah_K/gifts).
  * In response to a prompt by [Brennah_K](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Brennah_K/pseuds/Brennah_K) in the [cutsycat_NCIS_Prompts_2018](https://archiveofourown.org/collections/cutsycat_NCIS_Prompts_2018) collection. 

> Another dictionary.com word of the day drabble. This time from 03/20/2003 for the word [virago](http://www.dictionary.com/wordoftheday/2003/03/20/virago).
> 
> virago[ vi-rah-goh, -rey- ]  
noun, plural vi·ra·goes, vi·ra·gos.  
a loud-voiced, ill-tempered, scolding woman; shrew.  
Archaic. a woman of strength or spirit.
> 
> This was requested by Brennah_K as part of my 2018 prompt challenge [here](https://archiveofourown.org/collections/cutsycat_NCIS_Prompts_2018/profile). The 2018 Prompts are closed, however, you can still sign up for the 2019 Prompts [here](https://archiveofourown.org/collections/cutsycat_NCIS_Prompts_2019/profile). More instructions are below if you wish to sign up. 
> 
> **Prompt:**
> 
> Gibbs and the MCRT get a shovel talk from NCIS: when Gibbs returns from Mexico, showing Tony little to no respect, Balboa, the other team leaders (who hadn't just noticed Abby, Ziva,and McGee's misbehavior and attitudes but also filed useless complaints with the Director), and previously unnoticed Tony-supporters decide they've had enough and make their displeasure known to the MCRT in general and to Gibbs in particular.
> 
> As his supporters start coming out of the woodwork,Tony -who had been on the verge of leaving - is clued in that his team and family were possibly larger than he'd realized.
> 
> **End Prompt**
> 
> Note: In this story, Pacci isn't dead.

Tony couldn’t believe that Gibbs had dumped his stuff on his desk like it was nothing. It made him feel like Gibbs saw him as a child who couldn’t actually lead. It hurt a lot. 

It wasn’t the only thing that hurt as things began to unravel now that Gibbs was back. Ziva and McGee, even Abby to a certain extent, appeared to have taken Gibbs’ casual dismissal of Tony’s importance as leave to completely ignore anything he told them. It wasn’t new behavior as the three of them had been behaving similarly ever since Gibbs’ left, but the fact that Gibbs let it continue… It bothered Tony.

He hadn’t actually typed up his resignation letter, yet, but as more days passed and nothing changed, the urge grew even stronger. Jenny’s undercover op wasn’t helping matters either. She too was ignoring Tony, especially when he pointed out that Jeanne wasn’t at all involved in her father’s affairs.

Tony came in earlier and left later in an attempt to fade into the woodworks. Maybe if he just seemed to always be there, people would realize how much he did. Plus, he needed a break from Jeanne who had gotten the idea in her head that they should pick out a house together.

He was burning the candle at both ends these days and it was no surprise to most of the bullpen to come in and find Tony asleep at his desk. They understood the hours he’d been pulling and left him alone. The same couldn’t be said for his team.

Ziva was currently doing a stellar interpretation of a virago as she berated him for sleeping at his desk. She insisted that if he couldn’t stay awake that he might as well stay home. Following it up with the implication that she knew Tony hadn’t been doing any work lately and that the only reason he was tired was because he was out getting a booty call. 

Tony didn’t even try to defend himself. He knew it wouldn’t make any difference. Ziva had been trying to drive a wedge between him and Gibbs ever since she joined the team.

Unfortunately for Ziva, not everyone felt the same way Tony did. Tony watched as Chris Pacci stepped up in a yellow shirt and calmly pointed out that Tony had been working from 6am to 9pm every day this week. Chris wanted to know what exactly Ziva had been doing during that time that was so superior to the hard work that Tony had been putting in.

Ziva sputtered, “That’s impossible. If he’s been here from 6am to 9pm then he’s spent most of the time sleeping at his desk.”

Balboa stepped up next to Chris, soon joined by his SFA. “You’re wrong. In fact, this entire team has a deluded idea of what Tony does. I’m particularly disappointed in you, Gibbs. You should know better. I can’t believe you let this crap go on right under your nose.”

That seemed to start basically the entire bullpen ripping into everyone on the MCRT except for Tony. Tony was shocked. He didn’t realize how many supporters he actually had at NCIS. 

They weren’t leaving any stones unturned. Every transgression that Ziva, McGee, Gibbs, and even Abby had made were listed out in stark black and white statements. Ziva, of course, was the most vocal in protesting, but she wasn’t the only one trying to defend herself.

None of the people pointing out their faults were letting anyone get away with any excuses, however, especially not Gibbs. Tony reeled as he watched this entire thing unfold around him. He was too stunned to put a stop to it. In fact, it didn’t stop until Jenny tried to call a halt to it. 

When Jenny demanded they stop and get back to work, Balboa snorted. “You’re the worst offender of them all, Director. I know every single member of my team has put in multiple complaints about Ziva, McGee, and Abby’s behavior and you’ve ignored every single one of them.”

Tony couldn’t believe his ears, but he didn’t want anyone to get in trouble because of him. “Thanks guys, but it’s alright really.”

”It’s never alright the way they treated you, Tony,” Balboa’s SFA interrupted, “and if you ever want a change of pace, we’d be happy to have you on our team or really any other team would be happy to have you.”

Gibbs glared daggers at that comment. “DiNozzo is mine, damn it. I thought everyone knew that.”

The crowd seemed unphased, however, and simply ignored Gibbs’ glare and his words. Honestly, that surprised Tony the most about this entire situation. Somehow his ill treatment had overcome people’s general fear of Gibbs. 

Needless to say Ziva, McGee, Gibbs, and Abby’s behavior did not improve in the slightest as the day went on, but Tony found he didn’t care. The words his fellow agents had said bolstered him enough that the detritus leaving their mouths couldn’t touch him. For once, Tony didn’t stay at work until 9pm. 

Clearly, he didn’t have anything to prove to anyone anymore. If the team didn’t see his worth, after that declaration from the entire bullpen, there wasn’t a damn thing he would ever be able to do to change their minds. As he left, Balboa stopped him just long enough to slip him a piece of paper.

“Be there.” He suggested, “I think you’ll be surprised by what you find.”

Tony nodded his thanks and left the building. He didn’t look at the piece of paper until he was in his car and out of the NCIS parking garage. He knew damn well that both Abby and Tim regularly hacked the various NCIS cameras and he didn’t want them to know what was on the note ever. Not that there was much on the note, only a time and place.

When Tony showed up at the designated place at the designated time, he was surprised to see not just his fellow NCIS agents, but a number of the support personnel as well. “What’s all this?”

“This.” Balboa gestured around the room. “Is the regularly scheduled DiNozzo Intervention meeting.”

“What?”

Balboa grinned. “I’m just joking. It’s just an informal gathering where all of your supporters get together to talk about how badly you’re being treated and what we can do about it.”

“Wow. Really?”

“Yep. Everything we said today is true, Tony. Remember that.”

“I will,” Tony agreed. Prior to this meeting, he hadn’t realized just how big his NCIS family was.

“This isn’t even all of them, either. I know for a fact that there are others that support you that haven’t been able to make these meetings.”

Tony still couldn’t believe all the support and he just looked around the room with tears shining in his eyes. He wiped them away before moving to talk with some of the people he recognized. Balboa faded into the background, sure that his job was done now. Tony would never feel isolated and unwanted again, if he had anything to say about it.

**Author's Note:**

> The dictionary.com series has 2 stories already written for it after this one, so I will be posting at least 2 more stories before I stop posting again. I'm hoping to get more stories written before then, so that I don't stop posting for a while. Wish me luck! 
> 
> It's 2019 now and I have closed my 2018 Prompt collection, but fear not my 2019 Prompt Collection is now open [here](https://archiveofourown.org/collections/cutsycat_NCIS_Prompts_2019/profile). Just click the sign up link. ;) It will remain open until the beginning of 2020. I'm hoping to complete all the 2019 prompts by the end of 2020. Do not fear I have not forgotten about the 2018 prompts and will continue working through them. It's just easier for me to not get overwhelmed if I keep the prompts separated by the year they were given to me.
> 
> If you are not an ao3 member, you can prompt me [here](http://cutsycat.livejournal.com/50701.html). Please follow the same rules as are listed in the above link. However, because this is a handmade prompt form(that thinks it's a poll), it is considerably more limited than what ao3 provides, so please use the ao3 form if you're an ao3 member. Please note the name option is for a name that I can say this is for so that you know it's for you. Since this is for non ao3 members it won't be true gifts, but you will be mentioned in the notes. Please note if you have already voted in the poll and would like to request more stories you can just add a comment to the poll. Please include the name along with the prompt, so that I can appropriately gift the prompt to you.
> 
> For any authors that want to chat and/or are looking for a place where they can toss plot ideas around and get input from people, you can come join my discord server that is specifically geared towards writing/encouraging people to write and authors. The invite link is [here](https://discord.gg/HFvwpCq). If you're not an author, but want to chat with me about writing/stories or anything else you are welcome to join. I reserve the right to boot you from my server if all you do is pester me about updates, however. *grin* Really anyone who wants to talk about writing and/or plot ideas for various stories is welcome to join. 
> 
> Also, Drakonyashka has translated a couple of my works into Russian. [Tutelage](http://archiveofourown.org/works/12378780) and [Imbue](http://archiveofourown.org/works/12378840). Go support them. 


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